Archive for March, 2012

Mar201228

Staff

During today’s press conference at the NFL Annual Meeting, Commissioner Goodell answered a question on the status of HGH testing.

On HGH testing and the hindrance caused by the NFLPA’s request to first acquire a population study consisting only of NFL players:

If the population study was the only thing in the way from us reaching an agreement, we would have an agreement. Let me put it that way. We are prepared to do that if that resolves the issue. I sent an e-mail to (NFLPA Executive Director) De(Maurice Smith) before I left, and unfortunately, our meetings sort of crossed, but HGH was on that list and I expect by the end of the week I will be speaking to him about it again.

Mar201227

Staff

The Super Bowl champion New York Giants will host the Dallas Cowboys at MetLife Stadium in the 2012 season-opening NFL Kickoff game on Wednesday, September 5 (NBC, 8:30 PM ET), the NFL announced today.

NBC will televise the game at 8:30 PM ET and NFL Kickoff 2012 at 7:30 PM ET.

Continuing a tradition that started in 2004, the previous year’s Super Bowl winner hosts the NFL Kickoff game to open the following season.

Mar201227

Staff

The NFL will unveil new logos on April 26 for all of its media properties, it was announced today by Steve Bornstein, Executive Vice President of NFL Media.

The new logo system for the league’s media properties – which includes NFL Network, NFL Films, NFL.com, NFL RedZone and NFL Mobile – prominently features the NFL shield, uniform typography and design and provides for a more streamlined look across all platforms.

The new logos will debut on Day 1 of the 2012 NFL Draft (April 26), which kicks off at 8:00 PM ET with live pick-by-pick coverage on NFL Network and NFL.com.

Mar201227

Staff

Mar201226

Staff

Commissioner Roger Goodell opened the NFL Annual Meeting in Palm Beach, FL today with a presentation to team owners, general managers, coaches and staff.

The hour-long session, which included remarks from executives in numerous departments, briefly looked back at the successful 2011 season, capped off by the most-watched Super Bowl in history.

The focus of the session, however, was on the future, continuing to improve, and taking on new challenges. “We will face our challenges with the same approach that led to our success last season. We will embrace them, we will prepare and we will be unified. We can never take our success for granted,” said Goodell. “Like every one of your teams, we start over. It’s a new season. Everyone is 0-0. And everyone is coming after us. We are going to have our ups and downs. That’s reality. It is not just what we do but how we do it. What we do echoes far beyond the NFL.”

Mar201226

Staff

A total of 32 compensatory choices in the 2012 NFL Draft have been awarded to 15 teams, the NFL announced today.

Under the rules for compensatory draft selections, a team losing more or better compensatory free agents than it acquires in the previous year is eligible to receive compensatory draft picks.

The number of picks a team receives equals the net loss of compensatory free agents up to a maximum of four. The 32 compensatory choices announced today will supplement the 221 choices in the seven rounds of the 2012 NFL Draft (April 26-28), which will kick off in primetime for the third consecutive year.

The first round will be held on Thursday, April 26 and begin at 8:00 PM ET. The second and third rounds are set for Friday, April 27 at 7:00 PM ET followed by rounds 4-7 on Saturday, April 28 at Noon ET.

Mar201226

Staff

For the first time, the NFL will open a pop-up store in New York City to celebrate the launch of its new apparel partnerships and the 2012 NFL Draft. The NFL SHOP AT DRAFT located at 1095 Avenue of the Americas at 41st and 42nd Streets will be open April 2 – 30 from 11 am – 8 pm, seven days a week.

The 10,000-square foot space will house merchandise from NFL licensees, including Nike, New Era, Under Armour, GIII, VF and Wilson. The NFL Shop at Draft will showcase all 32 NFL teams’ New Era Draft Caps as well as all 32 new Nike jerseys (beginning April 3). In addition, fans will have their choice of limited-time-only, unique product exclusive to the NFL Shop at Draft, such as Statue of Liberty Gnomes by Forever Collectables, rhinestone NFL tees from Cuce Apparel and VF 2012 NFL Draft tees.

NFL Shop at Draft celebrates the start of the NFL’s new partnerships with Nike and New Era. It was previously announced that beginning in April 2012, the NFL will launch a new apparel framework featuring seven major partners: Nike, New Era, Under Armour, GIII, VF, Outerstuff and ’47 Brand.

To kick off opening day, NFL Commissioner ROGER GOODELL and current and former players will participate in a ribbon-cutting event on Monday April 2 at 10:45 AM. Goodell then will work as a store employee from 11 AM – Noon. The first 500 fans in line to enter the store will receive a commemorative 2012 NFL Draft coin.

NFL Network and NFL.com continue wall-to-wall coverage of a week full of NFL news with live coverage at 3:00 PM ET of Stanford’s Pro Day featuring quarterback Andrew Luck.

NFL Network was live for 30 hours from Monday-Wednesday – beginning with the news breaking Monday on free agent quarterback Peyton Manning choosing to sign with the Denver Broncos, continuing through Manning’s Tuesday press conference, and concluding with Wednesday’s NFL announcement of discipline in the Saints bounty investigation, the trade of Tim Tebow to the New York Jets, and quarterback Robert Griffin III’s Baylor Pro Day – and the fans watched in big numbers.

Full day viewership for NFL Network on Monday-Tuesday jumped 235 percent over the comparable Mon-Tues. last March, including a 213 percent increase in primetime viewership with an average of 216,000 viewers. (These respective numbers are also up 295 percent and 204 percent over 2010.) Wednesday’s overnight ratings spiked 333 percent over last year (viewership numbers will be available later today).

The NFL’s digital media platforms — including NFL.com, NFL Mobile Only From Verizon and other NFL mobile products — posted a 502 percent increase in page views compared to the comparable Mon.-Wed time period last March.

Following the Stanford Pro Day, NFL Network’s live coverage continues with Path to the Draft at 6:00 PM ET and NFL Total Access at 7:00 PM ET.

NFL Network airs seven days a week, 24 hours a day on a year-round basis and is the only television network fully dedicated to the NFL and the sport of football. For more information, log on to www.nfl.com/nflnetwork. NFL.com is the exclusive internet home of NFL Network.